After Optimus left
by MISCrasyaboutfanfics
Summary: Spoilers for AOE. slight AU in which Sideways is alive. Peaches, the Autobot Pretender who settled down with an ex-Decepticon and had a family, gets to take said family to meet the Yeagers for herself after having missed out on what happened recently. Sequel to my others stories about Peaches. Rated M for a sex scene in chapter 2 and other stuff in future chapters. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

After Optimus left chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own my human and Cybertronian OCs. I do not own the official Transformers characters or the movies in general. That honor goes to Paramount Pictures and Hasbro.

(Peaches' POV)

It was only 2 weeks until summer and at the beginning of this month, I had heard news about Transformers once again, battling in China. I hadn't contacted my fellow Autobots in a long time for safety reasons, except for a recent message from Optimus Prime in a dream a few nights ago.

I've homeschooled my 3 human kids since the Act of Congress which dissolved NEST. Sideways and I had kept quiet and just took care of the kids for the most part so we did not have to do anything to leave Earth until our human kids grewup and moved out barring anything overturning said Act of Congress. The President had declared that Sideways and I were not to be bothered nor were our Cybertronian kids to be subjected to the same thing since our family wasn't considered a threat. We did still use our human names when meeting others just in case someone was planning to go against the order to leave us be. We were not taking any chances. Knockout, the ex-Decepticon medic who acted as our family doctor, also used a human name for his holoform when he went out.

On this particular day, Brains had contacted me via calling the cell phone I used when in my human form; I was a Pretender and the only one left other than Crystal and Silver Dollar, my biological children, who were slowly but surely learning how to transform and about their heritage. I was in the kitchen, in my human alt mode, when I got the call. "Hello, how may I help you?" I said as I answered the phone.

"Peaches, you won't believe this! We got new human allies and-well, it's a long story." He replied. "You have to come to our location so that we can tell you more!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. New human allies? Can I speak to them? Do you want me to meet them?" I was confused.

"Yes, let me ask them, and yes for your answers." Was the former Decepticon drone's reply.

There was a brief moment of silence at the other end before a man's voice said "Hello?"

"Hello; to whom am I speaking?" I was curious.

"Cade Yeager. Are you Peaches-er, Paige?" he asked.

"Yes; you can call me by either name. Are you one the humans that Brains was telling me about?" I said politely.

"I am; the Autobots want me to meet you and your family since they want some help with some things that they think they'll need Cybertronain help with. I said that maybe a week or two of visiting from you would probably be the best since I need to see all of you in person and a few of them haven't met you yet." Cade said; he sounded very wary but kind of open to the idea of meeting me.

"Well, we'll have to leave our dog with a family friend but my family can come and visit for 2 weeks; if it has to be longer, it's no problem. My kids are homeschooled anyways, that is, my human kids that I adopted." I explained. "So, we will probably be leaving tomorrow since its 2 days of driving time from where we are right now to get to your location, I think-where are you?" I was confused about whether to trust the Yeager family or not but was willing to give them a chance.

Once his address was given, I wrote it down on a piece of paper. "Hopefully, you won't have too much trouble finding us." He added.

"I don't think we'll have any trouble; thank you Mr. Yeager." I replied.

"Just Cade please; I'll see you when you arrive." He said.

"See you then." I turned off my phone. It was a bit odd that the 'bots had me speak to Cade over said phone before meeting him in person and he had seemed to be trying to sound calm despite his nervousness. I couldn't blame him for feeling like that though. I didn't know what to make of it.

Later, I explained to Sideways and our children, Tyler, Aaron, Abby, Crystal, and Silver Dollar that we were going on a family trip.( Knockout was off street racing again but I had given him the day off anyways and always paid him in expensive wax to take care of us so he didn't technically need any prize money he got but that's another story..)

"Yay! Where are we going?" Abby asked; she was having Crystal brush her brown hair while talking to me. The two of them were about 5 years old now with Silver Dollar being 4. Aaron was now 10 years old and Tyler was 12 years old. Crystal was blonde in her human form and Silver Dollar had black hair as a human; these 2, being my only Cybertronian children, each took after us so to speak coloring wise. Crystal looked a bit look me and Silver Dollar looked a bit like Sideways. Tyler had a lighter brown shade of hair while Aaron was blonde.

"We're going to Texas to meet up with the other Autobots for a visit; they have some new friends they want us to meet." I replied.

"How far away is that?" Silver Dollar asked.

"A long way away. I'm willing to drive that far though" Sideways replied; I had told him over com link more details that I did know and about the phone call from Brains and Cade Yeager speaking to me.

"When do we leave?" Tyler wanted to know.

"We leave tomorrow; everybody start packing. I've got to call Ashley and see if she can take care of Snowball while we're gone." I said.

Snowball came into the kitchen after me, having heard her name. She was white all over, hence the name, and was a pretty friendly dog. I petted her and then called Ashley, my former human coworker from NEST. She had moved out of her family's home and was now living about half an hour away from the small town that I was living in, specifically one in the state of Virginia.

"Hey Peaches, what's up?" she said.

"Well, not much. I know this is short notice but my family has to take a two week trip to Texas and I was wondering if you could take care of Snowball during that time." I replied.

"Sure I can but isn't it risky?" she asked.

"Well, we're meeting up with the other Autobots; plus, we're not allowed to be bothered by government agents or anything, remember?" I asked.

"Oh yeah; sorry I forgot about that." Ashley sighed with relief. "Anyways, I hope the trip goes well."

"Me too; we just got to get packed and we'll drop off Snowball tomorrow on our way out of town." I stated.

"Great; I'll talk to you then." Ashley said. "Bye."

"Bye." I ended the call and started packing things up for the long journey. It took almost 3 hours to get everyone packed up and ready to go in the morning and by then, Knockout had returned and had been informed of what was going on.

"Do you think you can watch the place while we're gone?" Sideways asked.

"Of course; it's going to be just as you left it when you return." The red medic answered, using that same self centered tone of voice he usually did when talking to someone.

"Okay; good to know." I yawned and went off to mine and Sideways' room, transforming into my robot form along the way to use the washracks. The kids had already been cleaned and I just needed to clean myself. Sideways came in with me to "help" of course and soon we were both in bed after being cleaned and dried. The water had been turned off already so that we weren't wasting anything.

"So, do you think these new human allies will like us?" Sideways asked, suspicious of them and slightly paranoid.

"I think they will. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." I shrugged and soon fell into recharge, my sparkmate cuddling me. Knockout was recharging too as were the kids and our dog and the security system was active and working well.

That night I had a dream, specifically one that I could only have with my commander since he had a bond of adopted creator/creation with me; it was of Optimus Prime coming to me and saying "Peaches, this is quite possibly the last time I will ever be able to speak to you in any way, shape, or form." he had explained.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked.

"There is a bounty on my head and those who want me dead seem to actually be the ones who created our race. At least, that is their claim. I do not know how true it is but I am going to confront them. I might not survive this confrontation. That is why I had to leave Earth and leave Bumblebee in charge of the other Autobots." Optimus Prime explained. "Ratchet would have been my next choice as commander had he not been slaughtered."

I was in shock. "Ratchet…no…he can't be." I refused to believe it.

"I'm afraid it's true that he is indeed off line" My leader replied, the pain in his voice obvious. "Keep protecting your family Peaches and give our new human allies a chance; they have done so much to help me and the others."

I cried and hugged him tightly. "I'm going to miss you. I don't know if I can take it." I admitted.

Optimus returned my hug. "Peaches, I believe you can in fact 'take it'. You have survived many rough things that some could only dare to try to imagine for themselves. You have a very strong spark and have not given up your optimism completely and that is admirable. 'Every storm runs out of rain' as that one Earth song goes." He assured me. "Please promise me that you will keep protecting your family and help the other Autobots when they need it regardless of what happens next to any of us and that you will keep moving forward."

"I promise that I will do that and never forget you or everything you've taught me." I said through my tears.

"I am proud of you as well Peaches and I will not forget you either. Farewell, until that day when all are one." Optimus hugged me one last time before my dream ended.

I woke up in tears and Sideways hugged me close as I explained my dream to him.

"I know it's not going to be the same with no Optimus around but we'll have to do what we can to make the best of it" My sparkmate said.

"I know Sideways; it's just so painful remembering everything and not knowing what his ultimate fate will be." I replied.

Sideways kissed me and cuddled me close. "I can't say it will be all right but I will say that you need to remember that you're not alone in dealing with this." He reminded me.

I smiled a bit. "Thank you love."

Soon I could go back into recharge though just barely. I was worried all night about what Cade and the other new human allies would think of me. Usually, I didn't worry about what others thought, which was strange...

Author's note: I hope this is a good start. I just got the idea after seeing Transformers: Age of Extinction last night.


	2. Chapter 2

After Optimus left chapter 2

(Sideways' POV)

By the time we got to this new location that the other Autobots were temporarily staying at, it was 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday. We had left on Friday and I had driven that whole time, safe for stops for the bathroom and food and once stopping at an abandoned gas station to recharge during the late Friday night hours. Snowball was safe with Ashley and Knockout was keeping our home aka a former warehouse safe so I wasn't too worried.

I had to admit, the open fields were quite strange since I had never been in many areas like that. I saw the former farm that the Yeager family owned soon enough. We parked in the driveway and Bumblebee pulled up in vehicle mode to greet us.

"Hi Bee; it's us, you don't have to worry." Aaron said.

Bumblebee seemed to scan us just to make sure and then he transformed into robot mode and played a sound clip while motioning for us to follow him. "_Come on down; you're the next contestant on The Price is Right_."

"Here goes nothing." I said as I drove behind the barn. To my surprise, there were indeed new Autobots there since I had picked up some signatures. Peaches got the kids out and then they got their suitcases out. Once they had stood back enough, I transformed into my robot mode. Peaches, Crystal, and Silver Dollar did the same thing just as a man, who I assumed was Cade, and his young daughter walked up to us. I looked down to see that they were staring in amazement.

"Tyler, Aaron and Abby are 100 percent human." Peaches assured them. "I'm Peaches and this is my husband, or sparkmate, Sideways. These are our other 2 kids, Crystal and Silver Dollar."

"Pleasure to meet you Cade and…" I paused.

"Tessa." The teenage girl informed me.

"Tessa, okay then." I knelt down to shake their hands.

"How did you do that turning into human thing?" Cade was staring at us, slowly getting over his shock but still confused as he shook my hand and Tessa did the same.

"Oh, we're Pretenders, a breed of Transformers who are able to turn into whatever the dominant species of a different planet is, in this case humans." My sparkmate answered. "It's a rare gene so to speak. We're the only 3 living Cybertronians to have it. Crystal and I happen to be the only Cybertronian femmes on Earth as of right now."

"I didn't know robots could have genders." Tessa was confused.

"It's mainly aesthetics." One of the 3 Autobots that hadn't been introduced yet said as he and the other 2 transformed into their robot modes. He introduced himself as Drift and added "This is Crosshairs and this is Hound. You look familiar Sideways."

"Didn't you use to be known as Deadlock?" I asked, everything suddenly coming back to me. "I remember you from training but not seeing you after that."

"I did use to be Deadlock but that mech has been dead and gone for a long time." My former team mate stated simply, keeping pretty calm about the whole thing. I did not remember him being like this at all.

"I've changed as well, just not my designation as you can see. This is my sparkmate and these are my sparklings." I introduced my family to the 3 Autobots.

"Are you a real samurai?" Tyler asked, noticing that Drift, did indeed, look like that type of warrior.

"Not quite; Cybertronian martial arts are much different than the ones humans have" was the reply from the blue mech who knelt down in front of the children.

"Careful with them." I warned him, growling a bit.

"Easy; we're not hurting any sparklings." Crosshairs said. "What made you change anyways, Sideways?"

"Peaches but also the fact that I didn't see a point in being a Decepticon anymore." I calmed down as I explained my whole story to him.

Peaches in the meanwhile was still talking with Tessa as Cade had brought out a grill to cook dinner for the humans. I took a bit of energon out of subspace and passed a cube to each Cybertronian. Drift in the meanwhile was explaining to Tyler, Aaron and Crystal about one of Cybertron's many martial arts while Abby and Silver Dollar decided to show Bumblebee what they thought some of the clouds looked like.

"Thanks." Hound said, uneasy about me being here.

"It's not poisoned.' I assured everyone.

Once Bumblebee had taste tested the energon and everyone had seen that he had suffered no ill effects, they dug in so to speak. Well, the Cybertronians including myself did. Abby, Tyler, and Aaron were eating typical cookout food like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, etc. as were Cade and Tessa.

"So, how did you decide not to be a bad guy anymore?" Tessa asked.

I sighed and repeated the whole story to her. Of course, I had to growl a little when thinking of the times when someone had attempted to harm Peaches or my children. "Sorry Cade; I'm just protective of my family." I finished, calming down to assure him and his daughter that I would not hurt them.

"I know that feeling." Cade replied, nodding his understanding.

"He's loosened up a little bit though." Tessa added.

After they had eaten, my kids went to play. Peaches went to watch them and Cade and Tessa cleared out a space in their barn where I could park next to my fellow Cybertronians in vehicle mode to recharge. Once that was done, it was time for the kids to recharge/sleep.

"I'm not tired yet Daddy!" Silver Dollar whined, yawning at the same time.

"Me either!" Abby and Crystal added, also joining in the whining.

Tyler and Aaron, being too old to whine, didn't complain though I was pretty sure they had the same sentiment.

"Kids, listen to your father." Cade told them.

"You should be ashamed at misbehaving in front of your hosts." Drift scolded them. I swore I heard him muttering "no way could Peaches be a good parent; she's so young."

"I will scold my kids thank you very much! And I am a good parent regardless of my age you-well, you're something I can't say in front of certain people here!" Peaches retorted. She then turned to our children and calmed down. "If you don't go to bed, you don't get to do fun things tomorrow. Now please apologize to our hosts."

"We're sorry Mr. Yeager and Tessa and everyone else." Abby, Crystal, and Silver Dollar said at the same time.

"It's all right; I was just like you guys once, not wanting to go to sleep when I was supposed to but I learned better." Tessa told them.

"Mommy almost said a bad word!" Crystal pointed out, noticing I hadn't apologized.

"I'm sorry Crystal; I know I shouldn't say bad words, thank you for reminding me." My sparkmate said. "The point still stands that you all need some sleep; now, do you want to sleep in the barn with your father and I or do you want to sleep in the house, if it's all right with the Yeager family?"

"It's all right if they want to sleep inside; we'll make sure they're comfortable." Cade assured Peaches.

"I want to sleep inside!" Abby declared, immediately running for the house. Her brothers and sister ran after her, sort of, while carrying in their suitcases.

Tessa went in after them and Cade said "It's going to be a while before I can trust both of you."

"We understand." I assured him. "We feel the same way. Hopefully we can get to establish some trust between us."

"Sideways, can we please go somewhere alone? That's why we wanted the kids to go to bed in the first place." Peaches asked.

"Sure; there should be somewhere that we can go." I replied. "I apologize in advance if we accidentally awaken you because of our 'activities.'." I used air quotes when saying the word "activities".

"Just clean up after yourselves and we're good." Cade told us, sort of understanding what we meant. "But how can Cybertronians do those kinds of things?"

"Well, we have some of the same needs that humans do including sexual intimacy." I explained to the human man. "It just isn't what we do for reproduction like you humans do. It's more of a recreational thing; its spark bonding that creates a new Cybertronian life and you would have to ask an actual Cybertronian medic to explain more details about that to you."

Cade was slowly getting over his shock but wasn't sure what to say.

I transformed into my alt mode and Peaches did the same thing. "Sorry about shocking you like that." I told him as Peaches got in and we drove off to where no one would really see or here us.

There weren't many trees around which didn't help much with the hiding away but Peaches and I would try to be as quiet as we could be.

"So, think one of the other 'bots will explain more about Cybertronian sexuality to Cade?" Peaches asked.

"They might, we'll have to ask in the morning if they explained it to him." I answered as we finally stopped.

Peaches got out and then she and I transformed back to our 'bot modes and sat down next to each other, looking up at the stars. Well, she was looking at the stars and I was gently rubbing her frame. "You're still as beautiful as when I first met you." I told her.

"Thanks; it's hard to believe it's been so long, at least that's how it seems to me when I slip into thinking like a human." She replied, laughing a little and starting to massage my back. "You know, I hope we're not found by the CIA or anything though I would like to know how horrified they would be to find what looks like 2 aliens having human-like sex and see the looks on their faces."

I chuckled a little and pulled Peaches into my arms. I embraced her tightly and began kissing her; she happily returned said kiss and we continued touching each other. Peaches had always preferred me to be gentle during interface sessions and I was more than happy to do so. It had been quite a while since we had gotten to do this type of thing due to taking care of the kids and worrying about their safety but we knew the other Autobots were watching over them and the Yeagers at the moment so they would be safe tonight.

Peaches grabbed my rear end, squeezing it a little.

"Hey, what was that for?" I asked in mock anger.

"You have a nice aft, Turncoat." She answered, giggling as she continued stroking my wires.

"Two can play at that game, Peach Ice Cream." I smirked and began stroking her breastplate. No, I have no idea why some female Autobots look like they have boobs; I guess Primus or whoever actually did make Cybertronians must have had some weird sense of humor or something. Still, Peaches moaned when I did that so I kept doing so, knowing how much she liked it. I also squeezed the part of her protoform under her chest armor with one hand while rubbing in between her legs.

"Sideways…please keep doing that." Peaches moaned.

"As you wish. First, lay down. Please." I was feeling very lustful as well as loving right now. "I want to dominate you since you got to do that to me last time."

"Yes love." Peaches laid down in front of me on the grass as she said this. I then leaned over to continue rubbing her all over. I was feeling warm and hard but the love briefly overrode the lust and I went more slowly since that's what my sparkmate wanted.

After a couple of minutes, she couldn't take it anymore. "Sideways, please…" Peaches begged.

"Please what femme?" I asked while still stroking her thighs.

"Please take me." She answered and continued moaning as she slid back the cover to her interface port.

I slide back the covering over where my interface cable was housed and smirked. "I will."

There is only one thing I could say; putting a part of myself inside my sparkmate after not having done so for a long time felt amazing. Once the cable was "plugged in", I moved myself on top of Peaches and embaraced her while thrusting into her. "Mine. My Peaches." I growled.

"yours." She moaned in agreement.

I don't remember how long it took to get her to overload but she did so about half a minute before I did and with that done, I felt satisfied and cooled off. "How was that?" I asked.

"It was wonderful." Peaches said. "I think we should head back before the others start looking for us though."

I got up off of Peaches and we stood and cleaned ourselves up. I tore up the grass that had been stained with our lubricants and then set it on fire; Peaches poured a water bottle on it. "I don't think our bodily fluids will harm the environment but if they do, well, I'm prepared for a lecture from Cade."

I chuckled as we slid our covers to our interface arrays back into place once I had retracted my interface cable. "We'll worry about that later. It's time for a good recharge for right now" I took her hand and we walked back to the barn.

The other Cybertronians still left on Earth were talking and telling old stories from before the war and then they turned to us.

"Well, looks whos back!" Crosshairs chuckled.

"You look like you really had a good time." Hound remarked, making Peaches blush.

"We did." I affirmed, smiling and giving my mate a kiss.

Bumblebee played a brief snippet of the song "Only Girl in the world" causing all of us mechs to laugh.

"Very accurate Bee; Sideways always has made me feel like that." Peaches was still blushing.

"I've got one question is Peaches the only Cybertronian femme left, other than your daughter Crystal?" Drift asked me.

"Well, Optimus Prime's mate, Elita One, is currently with Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Mirage, Roadbuster and Topspin, currently raising some hatchlings that formerly belonged to the Decepticons on the planet known as Neptune; 15 femme hatchlings and 15 mech hatchlings to be specific. In other words, there are plenty of femmes but they're not anywhere near old enough to do adult activities." I answered. "I don't think I want any of the said femmes growing up only being treated like sparkling making machines though; they're being treated as persons from what I understand."

"That's good; there's still hope for us to not completely die out." Crosshairs commented.

I pondered this as we all went into the barn and transformed into alt mode to recharge. Peaches slept on my back seat in her human form. I would not be having any more kids with my mate just yet; we thought 5 was enough. Maybe there's more adult femmes still wandering space somewhere so that the others can find someone and not make it seem like they're jealous of me, I thought. I had heard Hound joke about this but I hadn't taken it as a joke at first; I was only told it was a joke much later on the next day. I recharged peacefully despite this though, eager to see what would happen tomorrow...

Author's note: that was my first lemon and not a very good one. Still, I'm satisfied with how this chapter turned out.


	3. Chapter 3

After Optimus left chapter 3

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. I do not own the Transformers characters nor do I own the song "God Help the Outcasts".

This chapter is dedicated to Robin Williams as well as to Michael Brown, the teen shot and killed last week. WE don't understand why either of them had to die but they will be missed by all that knew them. May they rest in peace.

(Peaches' POV)

I woke up this morning pretty early. It was about 7:00 a.m. to be more specific. I began walking towards the Yeager family's house once I was out of the barn and in my robot mode. I wanted to see if Cade was awake or not. While walking, I was singing sadly to myself. It was a song that I felt at least partially described the situations Cybertronians were facing due to prejudice from humans and I had slightly changed the lyrics to reflect that.

**I don't know if You can hear me or if You're even there**

**I don't know if You would listen to Autobots' prayers**

**They say I'm just an outcast, I shouldn't speak to You**

**Still I see Your face and wonder were You once an outcast too?**

**God help the outcasts hungry from birth**

**Show them the mercy they don't find on Earth**

**Please help my people we look to You still**

**God help the outcasts or nobody will**

I soon saw Cade once I had actually sung the rest of the song. "Hey, I didn't know you were out here." I was slightly embarrassed. I usually didn't sing for anybody except for Sideways and my kids and I never liked someone overhearing me sing but didn't mind so much now for some reason.

"I've heard that song before." He explained.

"I did too; I think it's the perfect description for how I feel." I replied. "I hope someday people will change their minds about the Autobots but until then, I just hope to keep my family safe from them."

The human man nodded. "Well, Abby, Tyler and Aaron are eating breakfast. Crystal and Silver Dollar have not gotten up yet." He said, deciding to change the subject.

"Let them sleep for another half an hour; I'll give them their energon then." I assured him.

Soon the other Autobots were up and so was my mate. Crystal and Silver Dollar ate their energon and when their human siblings came outside, the five of them played. Bumblebee volunteered to watch them.

I sat on the lawn with Sideways and watched them playing. Tessa soon came outside and sat near us.

"Hello Tessa, is there anything you need?" I asked.

"No, not really. Just wanted to know Peaches; is everything you wrote in your book about your life true?" she wanted to know.

"Yes, it is. I had to leave out classified stuff but everything I could tell just anyone is the truth." I answered.

"I can back her up on that." Sideways added.

"Well, the whole thing with you being raised by human parents kind of reminds me of Superman." The teenager explained.

"Trust me, I am nothing like Superman at all. Maybe kind of like Ironman except he's not a Transformer and I was never rich." I laughed.

Tessa smiled. "Still, I've got to wonder if you've even read about either of them."

"I have actually." I sighed. "On a different subject, I was wondering something. I know I probably shouldn't ask but I'm still curious anyways."

"Go ahead and ask; I can handle it." The human girl told me.

I was sure it was a bad idea but I still asked anyways. "Whatever happened to your birth mom?"

With a pained look on her face, Tessa gave me a short explanation. "She died of cancer when I was 7 years old. It's still a touchy subject." She paused. "The anniversary of her passing is actually tomorrow."

"I'm sorry." I gently wrapped my hand around Tessa in a reassuring hug. "Both my adopted parents as well as my birth parents are dead so I know that feeling even if I don't understand the circumstances."

Sideways put a hand on my shoulder, the same way that Optimus would always comfort me when I was thinking of a horrible subject. He at first didn't know what to say but did put in his own two cents. "Death is a scary thing, trust me I know that from firsthand experience being the one who was dead. Yes, Cybertronians live longer but we still grieve. We may not always express it the same way humans do though."

Tessa began smiling a little again. "I think my mom would have liked you guys and the other 'bots; it's just too bad I'll never know for sure."

"Optimus once said to me to never mourn the past or what could have been." I said. "He also told me that the best way to remember someone is how they lived their life since it's worth keeping the good memories of a person even long after they're gone."

To my surprise, Cade had come out of the barn and was overhearing the whole conversation. I swore I could hear him crying at least a little, maybe it was just me but he came over and hugged Tessa once I let go of her. "Thank you for understanding." He told me and Sideways.

"You're very welcome Cade; our species are more similar than we realize in some ways." My mate said. "I didn't like humans that much before but there are a few that make me wonder why I had been a Decepticon and so eager to destroy them once. You and Tessa are on that list by the way."

"Good to know." Cade smiled.

Abby then came running over to us. "Mommy, Silver Dollar hit me!" she complained.

"Please excuse me." I said, getting up and going over to see what had exactly happened between two of my youngest kids. I had forgotten about the conversation I had just had but I wasn't going to forget those I had lost. They wouldn't want me to. If only you could see me now Mom and Dad, I said thinking about them.

The very next day, Cade and Tessa showed us Mrs. Yeager's grave. All of the 'bots who had holoforms had them turned on with their real vehicle modes parked in the cemetery parking lot. Crystal Silver Dollar and I were in our human forms and Abby, Tyler, and Aaron were as solemn as we were as Cade said a prayer and laid some flowers on top of the grave.

"Lord, thank you for giving me my wife for as long as I was allowed to have her. I still miss her every day but I know that eventually, Tessa and I will see her again when you decide the time is right. Thank you also for my new family and protect all of us in this life and the next in Jesus's name we pray, amen." Cade said.

"Amen." Tessa and I added.

When we got back to the house, Cade began telling all of us Autobots and the sparklings how he had met Tessa's mother and there was some smiles all around despite the bittersweet anniversary. I knew we can't always explain why certain people have to go when they do and we probably never will but honoring their memory is the best thing we can do for them…


	4. Chapter 4

After Optimus left chapter 4

(Sideways' pov)

After having told stories tonight, everyone settled down to either sleep or recharge. I was in vehicle mode in Cade's barn and recharging myself when Peaches, who was sleeping on the back seat in her human form, woke up screaming.

"Love, what's wrong?" I asked.

She stopped screaming and simply replied. "I dreamed about Ratchet's death." Peaches began sobbing.

I turned on my holoform and wrapped its' arms around her. "He wouldn't want you to act like this."

"I know but still, Knockout's the only Cybertronian medic left on Earth; what's going to happen if he doesn't teach someone else before someone or something takes him offline?" She panicked.

"We'll have to have him meet with Cade then since Cade has expressed an interest in becoming a medic for us since he knows quite a bit about machinery." I suggested.

"Maybe." Peaches pulled the sheet she had been using back over her and laid down on the seat again.

I turned my holoform off. "Think you can go back into recharge now?" I asked.

"I think so." My mate felt much better knowing that I was there. I felt the same way. Hoepfully, tomorrow would be a good day.

(Cade's POV, 3rd person)

Cade had never thought he would meet an Autobot who could turn into a human. He admitted though that it was a better way of blending in than just turning into a vehicle. It also helped that Peaches could eat human food though as she was this morning for breakfast. Her kids were also eating it, Crystal and Silver Dollar also in their human forms and doing so, and they all seemed to enjoy it. Tessa had cooked breakfast herself just as she had done for many years once she was considered to be old enough to use the stove at the age of 13.

"Tessa, you make great food." Aaron declared.

"Thanks." Tessa smiled at him. "I've had a lot of practice."

Her father finished his own food and once everyone else was done eating, Tessa began washing dishes while everyone else who was inside went outside with the Cybertronians who were already out there.

When they got outside, Sideways was talking to Bumblebee in Cybertornian. Drift was off meditating somewhere and Hound and Crosshairs were shooting at giant targets that Cade had helped them build. Tyler, Aaron, Abby, Crystal, and Silver Dollar began playing with Tessa, who volunteered to watch them despite Tyler's complaints that he was going to be 13 soon and didn't need to be watched.

Peaches transformed into robot mode then sighed and looked at Cade. "Is Tessa that difficult?" she asked.

"Sometimes." He admitted. "I'm still confused about how the whole Pretender thing works."

"Well, it is a very long technical explanation so if you have the patience to hear it, I'll tell you." She said, giving the human man a smile.

"I can listen to the whole thing." he assured her.

Peaches began the long explanation and Cade listened closely. When she was done, she asked "Does that make any sense?"

"Sort of." he answered. "I take it that's the reason why KSI never found you?"

"Yes that and I marketed my book as fiction; only those who are close to the president and all the humans who worked for NEST when it was around knew the truth." The peach colored femme explained. "Sideways and I took our kids out of public school as well since we knew that if they got into a fight at school regarding anything about the Autobots, there would probably be worse punishment than a trip to the principal's office, especially if one of those agents had detected Sideways' or Knockout's signal."

"Who's Knockout?" Cade was confused.

"He's a vain medic who happens to be my family's personal physician as of right now. He changed sides only because he knew there was no point in being a Decepticon without a leader like Megatron." Peaches answered. "I don't know that he'd want to teach you anymore about Cybertronian anatomy but he's the only one who can do it if you want to learn."

"How vain is he?" The human man was wary of Knockout despite never having met him.

"To the point where he hates when someone touches his paint. There's rumors that he was a Casanova at some point before the Autobot-Decepticon war but I have never asked him if any of them are true. Either way, he knows that he can only touch me when doing medical procedures, otherwise Sideways would get pissed off at him."

Cade wasn't sure what to say in response to this. Still, if Knockout had good skills, he would probably be a good teacher. In fact, the human man was sure that the Autobots would make sure that Knockout taught him well. He then finally found his voice again, opting to change the subject. "You are very lucky Peaches."

"You're right; I am but I'm also hardworking. Can you imagine juggling different lesson plans for a seventh grader, a fifth grader, a kindergartner, and 2 Cybertornian sparklings?" She asked.

He shook his head no.

"It's hard being a teacher and a parent but I try to make it fun for them. They don't have to start their next round of lessons until September since that's when the textbooks and workbooks are going to be sent to me." Peaches explained.

Before Cade could ask anymore, he heard Tessa call for help in dealing with Abby and Crystal, who were fighting over a soccer ball. Peaches immediately got up and talked to them saying "If you can't play nicely and share the ball, we have to put it away."

"Nooo!" Abby shouted.

"Are you going to share?" Peaches asked.

"Yes." they replied.

"I hope so." their mother said to them.

The kids started playing nicely again and Peaches came back over. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right; Tessa was just like that whenever her cousins would come and visit. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days." Cade replied, feeling nostalgic. "Believe me Peach, it's hard to see your kid grow up."

"I know; it's only going to be 6 more years until Tyler is an adult." she replied. "I adopted him after I adopted Aaron but it feels like they've been around longer."

It was about another half an hour of the two talking about family and the hardships of dealing with kids when Sideways finally decided to take Peaches away for some private time before lunch. Cade let them go; they were adults and could handle it well. Tessa wouldn't be 18 until the next Tuesday that was coming up.

His thoughts were interrupted by Silver Dollar asking "Mr. Yeager, can you show us some of the stuff you're working on?"

"Pretty please?" Crystal added.

Cade smiled. "Come on; I'll show you. Just don't touch anything."

All 5 of Peaches' and Sideways' kids were led to the barn by Cade and Tessa, who began explaining some of the projects they were working on. In the back of his mind though, Cade was worried that things were going a little too well during Peaches' visit and had the feeling that something awful was about to happen again...


	5. Chapter 5

After Optimus left chapter 5

(Peaches POV)

Unlike a few days ago, this start of the second week of my family's visit to the Yeager family was something to be very happy about. Today was Tessa's 18th birthday and I was helping her and Cade decorate the inside of the house as well as the yard. Joshua Joyce, who had once been an enemy of the remaining Autobots but had become an ally, was going to be in attendance and in fact, it had been him who made sure the Yeager family got their property back as well as solar panels for their electrical power and with the government's assistance fixed up the house and rebuild Cade's workshop as a way of compensation for the father and daughter inadvertently getting involved with the Cybertronian war. I wasn't so sure what to think of him since I hadn't met him yet but I hoped he hadn't known anything about me before his arrival.

The party was being attended by the other Cybertronians present, using their holoforms, as well as Joshua, Shane, and some of Tessa's friends from high school. Also, a few of her cousins, aunts, uncles, and her paternal grandparents would be attending.

"Mommy, are you getting Tessa a birthday present?" Crystal asked me while I was outside in my human form tying balloons to some posts that Cade had nailed to the ground while Tessa put streamers over the railing on the back porch.. Cade had gone with Hound to get the cake and ice cream and the Autobots and Sideways had turned on their holoforms to make sure they worked.

"I did; I'm going to give her a birthday card." I said, giving my youngest daughter a smile.

"I want to give her one too!" Abby declared.

"Me too!" Silver Dollar added, wanting to do what his older sisters were doing.

So we made a birthday card for Tessa. Even Aaron and Tyler signed it as did Sideways and we put the card on a stack of other birthday cards. On the picnic table outside. The stack was held in place with a paperweight and soon Tessa's friends began arriving.

The 'bots holofroms were thought of as being "hot" by some of the other girls at the party.

"And let the flirting begin." I sighed.

Sideways' holoform smirked at me. "They're young adults; they can't help it." He said.

Sometime later, Joshua Joyce himself arrived. Considering what he had done before he decided to help the Autobots, I wasn't too keen on trusting him right away. He did shake my hand politely and went to talk to Cade about something. I wasn't sure what that something was but I decided to enjoy myself and keep an eye out for anyone who had tried to smuggle alcohol to the party. Bumblebee was the one who volunteered to watch my kids and keep them busy with kids' activities and seemed to be doing a good job of it.

All too soon it was time for lunch to be served then the cake would be cut. Everybody ate and drank some fried chicken, baked potatoes, pretzels, chips, and some cheese curls. They drank either [unch or soda or lemonade.

"This is tasty." One of the girls in attendance commented.

"Tessa made it all herself." I replied. It was true.

When everyone had sung "Happy Birthday" to Tessa and she blew out the candles, I took a look around, just ot make sure there wasn't anything out of the ordinary going on. Thankfully, all seemed calm so I enjoyed cake with everyone else.

"This is the best cake ever!" Aaron declared.

"I agree." I said.

Tessa opened all of her presents and cards a couple of minutes later once everyone was done eating. Cade took all of the stuff that needed to be washed back int eh house and put away the leftover food while I cleaned up whatever paper plates and cups had not been thrown away by the guests.

When the party was over, everyone except Joshua left. I hadn't been able to talk to him much so I guess this was the best time for a good conversation with him, even if I didn't really like him much at the moment.

"Peaches, I have some bad news for you." He said.

"What's the bad news?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know it.

Since everyone else had left, my fellow Autobots, my sparkmate, and Crystal and Silver Dollar assumed their Cybertronian forms and I did a few moments after that before he anssered.

"Charlotte Mearing just called and asked me to inform you of this. An ex-NEST member was kidnapped…." He began the explanation, basically saying that my friend Ashley was now being held hostage somewhere and that my dog Snowball had tried to stop them from taking her but had been shot by one of the kidnappers. Likely

"Who would do that?!" I immediately wanted to know, feeling enraged and guilty. "Where is Ashley? Is my dog dead?! What do they want with my friend when she was only a civilian employee and not a soldier?"

"The most likely reason is because of the fact that she's a close friend of yours." Joshua sighed, sounding like he really didn't want to answer my other questions. "Snowball was taken to a verterinary hospital but died just as she got there. I'm sorry."

"They killed my dog…they kidnapped my best friend….I am going to kill them!" I shouted, starting to run off.

"Hang on; you don't' even know where they took her." Crosshairs pointed out.

Drift grabbed me as did Sideways. "If you do something without thinking, it's not going to make this situation better." Sideways pointed out; I could tell he was trying to be strong for my sake.

"I know. I just…I just need someone else to tell the kids since I'm in no state to do so." I transformed into my human alt mode and drove around with Sideways for a while while Drift sent Knockout a message about what had happened.

(A few hours later)

By now, Joshua had been on the phone with the government for hours asking what my family should do and whether the Autobots could be sent to save Ashley ASAP. Bumblebee had been comforting my children as best as he could after Tessa told them the news. Speaking of which, I apologized to Tessa for her birthday being ruined.

"It's not your fault." She assured me. I knew she was still a little upset but there was no way anyone could have predicted what would happen.

Sideways had finally gotten a reply back from Knockout. "He's on his way here right now and had to destroy our old home since he saw suspicious humans who were trying to find all of us. In other words, we don't really have anywhere to go back to since it would be too dangerous."

I really hated this. For almost four years, that warehouse had been our home and there had been memories there. Now, we had nothing but the stuff we had packed and whatever Knockout decided to shove into subspace before our former home was demolished. I kbnew my mate was right htough. It looked like our vacation was over and we were homeless, at least until Cade tapped on my foo to get my attention.

"Yes?" I asked him.

"I would be fine with you two and your children staying here as long as you need to." The human man assured me.

"Thank you Cade; we really appreciate it." Sideways told him.

Soon a mission was planned; Bumblebee, Drift, and Crosshairs would go to rescue Ashley while Knockout would arrive with Snowball's body so that we could bury her. I watched the three mechs who had volunteered for the mission drive out of sight and cuddled Sideways and the kids. I began praying and hoping for Ashley to be rescued...


	6. Chapter 6

After Optimus left chapter 6

Author's note: last update for a while simply because I am busy with college work again and will have little time for fanfiction. I don't know when the next update will be.

(Knockout's POV)

He had not wanted to but he owed it to his former teammate's sparkmate to have their beloved pet buried. Hence, his arrival after nearly two days of driving. By now, Ashley had been rescued by the Autobots and had to leave the country and change her identity for her own protection. Peaches was disappointed and cursing KSI and other humans when Ashley had gotten into a CIA van to leave their lives permanently but at least the CIA seemed to be treating the 'bots a little better with no Harold Attinger around to lead them.

Now though, the humans known as Cade and Tessa were digging a grave for the dog known as Snowball and Peaches was giving a eulogy for the little white collie.

"She was a very loyal dog." Peaches was saying through tears. "She was also the friendliest dog I have ever met. I don't think I could ever have another one."

Knockout saw Sideways hug Peaches and as soon as the human and Cybertronian sparklings belonging to the couple had said their goodbyes, Snowball was buried and a makeshift gravestone was put on top of it. Cade marked some human lettering on it which said "Snowball, the best dog anyone could ask for. 2011-2016."

"Thank you Cade for doing this." Sideways said to the human male.

Cade didn't say anything in return; he just allowed them time to grieve. That was what they needed.

Knockout transformed into his alt mode and went to rest. A vacation turned into permanently living here was not something that would be easy for Peaches or Sideways to get used to and Knockout wasn't sure what to think of his being the only Cybertronian medic alive on Earth. Of course, he wouldn't admit this out loud, even though Cade asked if he was all right.

"I'm fine flesh creature, just don't touch my paint." was Knockout's reply.

Thankfully, Cade was smart enough to listen and simply went into his now rebuilt workshop to do some work before eating dinner.

In August, construction started on a house on the plot of land next door for Peaches' family. She had opted to write more books under her human identity so that she could earn money to raise her 3 human kids. Tessa in the meanwhile was spending her days hanging out with her high school friends or with her boyfriend Shane before she had to leave for college.

"I still don't understand why you only got money after what happened earlier this summer." Peaches had once said a few weeks ago

"Probably because of Dad and his stealing power from the neighbors and the like." She had replied, shrugging. "He's getting better about paying bills now that we've been back here for a while."

Knockout didn't want to ask someone to explain human money to him; it was too confusing and the fact that so many different areas of the planet used different currencies still baffled him. Instead, he had gone to the part of Cade's workshop that had been turned into a makeshift medical bay to start polishing himself.

"How often do you do that?" Cade asked.

"Only once or twice a week." He answered. "Why do you care?"

"If I'm going to have Cybertronians around, I may as well ask about you and your friends."

"I suppose there wouldn't be too much harm in explaining more about Cybertronian culture to you." Knockout said, making a sound much like a human sighing. "After all, you and your offspring and her mate have proven to be trustworthy."

Cade asked a few questions that were surprisingly intelligent, mainly what other fuels could they have besides energon, how long did recharge for an average Cybertronian last, and similar ones. Knockout answered each one and the human man talked about human fuels and sleep schedules and the like. Maybe the Decepticon medic could take up Peaches' suggestion of teaching the human male about Cybertronian medicine to assist when ever the others needed repairs...


	7. Chapter 7

After Optimus left chapter 7

(Peaches' POV)

The day Tessa left for college with Shane, the last day of August, Cade was the one to drop them off at the airport while I looked after his house for a few hours and Sideways kept the kids busy. The other Cybertronians were sparring with each other except for Knockout, who was cleaning his makeshift medbay.

I wondered what Tessa would have to deal with upon going to college since Sam had dealt with knowledge from the AllSpark during that time of his life as Mikaela had once told me. He had also had some Decepticon Pretender try to get him to cheat on her. I thought that was ridiculous until Sam and Leo had confirmed the story when I had asked about that years ago. I hoped Tessa would not have to deal with something similar but since Shane was going to be with her, he would go up against anyone, guy or girl, who tried to steal her from him.

That being said, Cade was tired when he came home and as a result, I had made dinner for him after feeding my family. Someone had to keep an eye on him so I would be the one to do so.

Once I was sure that Cade would be fine, seeing as he started eating, I walked out of the house and then changed into my robot form. I then sat in the field closer to my family's normal sized new home, which had been finished a few days ago. I watched the sunset and immediately remembered when Optimus had done that with me after the first time I had met him.

"God, it's hard to believe that was only 6 years ago." I commented. I began singing one of my favorite songs from my human teenage years, not thinking of whether anyone heard me or not. The wreckers, Ironhide, Jolt, everyone else who worked with NEST were being remembered as I did so.

**I miss you, miss you so bad**

**I can't forget you, oh it's so sad**

**Oh, I hope you can hear me**

**Cause I remember it clearly**

**The day you slipped away**

**Was the day I found it won't be the same, no**

I don't remember if I finished the song; all I remember is that I wound up crying for at least half an hour from the painful memories and Drift got Sideways to come and embrace me.

"I know it's not easy. I just wish I could do more." Sideways told me sympathetically.

"I think this is enough for now, unless you want a good interface session." I replied.

"Let's wait on that until all of the kids are asleep." My mate said, giving me a kiss before he transformed into vehicle mode. I transformed back to my human mode and followed his holoform into the house, where Abby and Silver Dollar had fallen asleep on the couch while watching _Big Hero 6_. Crystal was still awake and Aaron and Tyler had just finished up their homework.

"Are you okay now Mommy? I heard you crying lots." Crystal said.

"I will be okay as long as I have everyone here." I answered.

I couldn't have my kids know that I had been having trouble recharging or that I often had nightmares of what humans could try to do to me or them if they ever captured us. I had also at times been triggered into having a flashback of a time when my leader was in danger when seeing red and blue together, such as when Aaron had shown me a picture he had drawn of Superman and Batman.

Superman reminds me too much of Optimus if only because of both being aliens having to protect Earth despite all of the jerks on it. I had seen a Peterbilt truck parked at a truck stop the previous day when out doing errands but one scan was all it took to remind me that it was not Optimus. I wound up shutting myself (in human form of course) in the master bedroom of my new home and cried for about 2 hours. It seemed as though nothing would get better; sure, Bumblebee could be a good leader if he tried but still, I was scared. Some of the comfort I would get later was from an unexpected source and something I honestly thought I didn't deserve…

Author's note: I know it's short but I plan on having at least one or two more chapters to finish this off and then I will write more about Peaches later after the fifth Transformers movie comes out next year.


	8. Chapter 8

After Optimus left final chapter

The next morning, after getting my kids to do their school, and in Crystal and Silver Dollar's case, having them get lessons in their Cybertronian heritage from Knockout and Bumblebee, I looked around to see what everyone else had been doing. Hound and Crosshairs were testing out new weapons that Cade had helped them build while Drift was probably somewhere meditating. I decided that if Drift wasn't back within a few hours, I would check on him. I wasn't sure why I was thinking that but for some reason, I wanted to do such a thing.

"Peaches, are you all right?" the Autobot samurai asked me.

"Drift, I'm not okay. May I meditate with you? I wanted to try that as a method of calming myself down." I admitted.

Smiling just a little, Drift motioned for me to sit next to him. I did so, crossing my legs and closing my eyes in the process.

It was clearing my mind that was the hard part. It took me a few minutes before I was calm enough to proceed. I then finally understood why Drift meditated; it was relaxing.

I think I feel asleep at some point though; I wasn't sure exactly when I did but I was now dreaming about things I remembered from when NEST was around. I then began dreaming of something I hadn't thought about from when I thought I was a human; when I was 12 in human years, , there was one time that my adoptive human parents and I were eating at a restaurant. I had noticed someone at the other table, an elderly man, who seemed to be choking. Having learned the Heimlich maneuver in school, I immediately got up and performed it on a complete and total stranger, saving his life and causing the food that he had been choking on to be spat out onto the table.

The older man turned to me and smiled. "Thank you." He said. If he had been one of those people who had lost hope for today's youth, I guess he had gotten a little bit of it back.

"You're welcome." I had replied.

He had left soon after that; my mom thought he was an angel in disguise or something like that. I had been inclined to believe her. Now though, I was slowly finding out the truth as the scenery in my dream changed to a beach. The way it always looked when Optimus and I had a private conversation in dreams due to our bond. He was too far away to do that though, at least he probably was by now. That was the most confusing thing to me at that moment. "Huh?"

"Peaches." I heard a familiar voice. One I hadn't heard in 4 years. It has to be one of the other Primes, I thought, but why would they want to talk to me?

I turned around and saw who it was. "Vector Prime?!" i gasped.

Vector Prime smiled at me. "Optimus is safe, young one. There is no need to worry." He assured me.

"I know; it's just that, I miss him so much." I found myself sobbing again.

Vector put a hand on my shoulder; it was the same thing that Optimus would always do when I needed comfort. It was at that moment that I realized that Optimus had inherited quite a bit from his ancestors, personality wise as well as looks and the family name.

"I don't even know anything about those so called 'creators' he was going after, that's the other reason why I am worried." I explained.

"I'm afraid I can't answer any questions you have about them." the space and time guardian said.

"Darn it." I muttered.

I heard another voice and that was when I woke up.

It turned out that the second person I was hearing was Knockout. "Peaches, your mate wants intimate time with you." the red medic said.

"Knockout!" I blushed as I got up, now wide awake. "Why'd you have to say that in front of everyone?!"

I heard Crosshairs and Hound laughing and Bumblebee was laughing as well. Cade and Drift were polite enough not to laugh; my kids were just plain confused. Sideways was smirking.

I started laughing too; that was the only thing I could do right now as I went off with Sideways, leaving Bumblebee to tell Abby, Crystal, and Silver Dollar a story and Tyler and Tyler and Aaron to play a two person game of baseball in the backyard. It was at that moment that I knew what Vector had been trying to tell me; even if everything wasn't all right at the moment, I would be able to get through it as long as I focused on what I could do something about, such as taking care of my family.

Optimus Prime would be able to handle himself; he would want the rest of us Autobots and the human allies we have left to stick together and handle everything that was to come as best as we could. I know he would be proud of us for doing so. if he does return, we'll welcome him with open arms but until that day, we'll just have to make do with Bumblebee. Maybe the youngest of us Cybertronians would make a great leader once he got more experience...


End file.
